Can't believe how good the GX20 is at low light

Was shooting at the Sheffield Arena in the pit last Monday, Deacon Blue & Simple Minds.

When I came out of the pit & checked my photos, I pressed info and realised I had my ISO set at 200. I really thought I had blown it as we are not allowed to use flash in the pit.

On getting home & uploading my photos I am just stunned with the quality of them SOOC.

Here is a link to them, can't post directly due to copyright issues.

http://www.egigs.co.uk/index.php?p=7934&d=2008-12-01

These have been converted from RAW to JPEG in Lightroom & resized for web, no croppong or post processing.

Nice shots Cabstar -I can almost here the music in them! Which lens did you use?

Thanks for sharing
Geoff

I'm going to guess the DA* 50-135?

very very nice whatever you were using.

Sure was the DA* 50-135mm got to love that lens

I do....

Great news, am so glad it was that lens! I just got one today from SRS.

Hope I can get do half as well under poor lighting conditions.

I have only had this lens a month a so & already want to replace my Tamron 17-50 with the DA*

I love the way the focus locks straight on, it very rarely hunts.

Just found out that the Kenko convertors (or any others for that matter) won't allow AF with this lens. Seems to eb the penalty we have to pay for the super smooth/fast focus mechanism.

You can't win them all!

The Tamron 1.4X MC4 version will work with SDM lenses.

Been reading about the Samsung GX-20 and it gets better reviews than the K20d. Essentially they are the same camera so im told so why is the Samsung GX-20 better?

Matt

A friend of mine has a GX-20 and bought it based on reviews which, as you say, tend to favour it over the K20D. Samsung use slightly different processing algorithms for JPEG output which seem to be preferred by reviewers, however, if you're shooting RAW then this will have no effect regardless of which camera you're using.

Comparing the GX-20 to my K10D I have to say I do prefer the Samsung menus. They may offer the same options as the Pentax but the blue/grey colour scheme and choice of fonts just makes the Samsung a little easier to read and quicker to browse - I think Samsung's experience in consumer electronics shines through at that point.

The Pentax does of course offer two RAW formats (PEF + DNG) to Samsung's one (DNG) and can generally be had for less money than the Samsung. The Samsung hits back with a 2 year standard warranty instead of Pentax's 1 year (2 year if bought from a Pentax Pro Centre).

As a RAW shooter who rarely delves into the menus I'd be quite happy with either to be honest!

Thanks to Mike-P for the tip about convertors for the 50-135 DA*

Geoff

I purchased my GX20 when Great Universal had the misprice on, I think it was £639 less the 10% commission, then the £100 cash back. I don't think you can go wrong with either Pentax or the Samsung. I do love the strange looks I get from the otehr photographers in the press pits at gigs with their expensive white tubes. I catch them looking at me out of the corner of my eye

Here are some more of my pics of Simple Minds from the same show using the Tamron 17-50mm 2.8

http://www.egigs.co.uk/index.php?p=1807&d=2008-12-01

Here is a link to the same gig shot by a 'pro' using Canon for Sheffield Star

http://www.thestar.co.uk/EditorialGallery.aspx?ArticleID=4750847&SectionID=5108

The difference is incredible to say the least

Nice shots Cabstar.....

.....dont suppose you could get me a press pass for a Moody blues concert

How did you get into this line of work?

It is so difficult to break into, I am still doing my day job

You need to get a portfolio of band shots, these can be anyone signed or unsigned. This gets you experience of shooting in dingy clubs & theatres, this is also an excellent learning curve.

Once you have a portfolio of live shots you can approach magazines or ezines, then depending upon where you are located & if no one is shooting in your area, someone may give you a chance. Then either your editor or yourself approach band PR for press passes.

I arrange all my own passes, when I first started I used to get very few replies, but once you start getting published a few times it gets easier.

Sometimes you don't find out until the same day as the concert, this happened to me recently for Pigeon Detectives, but as it was just around the corner from me that wasn't a problem.

Its hard work, some shoots you get very little time, Courteeners a few weeks back we got 2 songs approx 6 mins & lighting was dreadful.

If you do a festival, like the one I did last weekend in Skegness, festival start time was Friday 11.00pm & finished at Saturday 6.00am then started again at Saturday 2.00pm until Sunday 6.00am then we had to be off site by 10.30 get home, edit over a 1000 images, upload them & then go back to work on Monday morning. It's certainly not as glamourous as it looks, but when you get to hang out backstage at Glastonbury & see some of your heroes hanging out & get to chat with them it makes it all worthwhilst.

But it is fun & its what I have wanted to do since I saw all those cameras at Live Aid around Bono when he did his dance bit

The Simple Minds shoot has been the highlight of my year, my favourite band & wanted to shoot them for as long as I can remember.

Hopefully I am living proof you don't need a D3 or 5D and lots of white tubes to succeed in this line